mustache themed 30th birthday party

As I mentioned on Monday we had a great mustache themed party for Al’s 30^th over the weekend. We kept it simple, didn’t want to overdo it and wanted to keep things budget friendly – as in not spending a fortune on decor.

Much of what we used I made and a few other things were ordered. The color scheme was a deep red, black and light gray.  Below are a few tutorials of what I made. All can be customized based on whatever the theme of the party is. I spent around $15 for all the items listed below. Not bad!

Hanging Banner:

I made a simple banner using scrapbook paper, which I got on sale, 6 sheets/$1. I bought 12 sheets – six red and six of the black and white patterned.  I cut the red sheets of paper to 8.5×11” to fit in my printer. I then printed the letters on it and simply cut them out.

I cut all the triangles out of the patterned paper and hot glued the letters on them. Using PicMonkey (my favorite online photo editor) I doctored up a photo of Al by adding a mustache to his face! Finally, to hang I used plain white gift-wrap ribbon. Taped the ribbon to the backs of each triangle, hung and curled the excess ribbon on each end.

Mustache Cutouts – appetizer toothpicks and photo props

I ordered a pack of mustache cutouts on Etsy for $5, plus shipping. The seller sent a few free mini mustaches as well. I glued the mini ones to toothpicks to use for appetizers and I glued the large ones to sticks (found in the backing area of Michael’s) to use as a photo prop.

Customized PicMonkey Display

We displayed the photo prop mustaches in a glass vase with a sign that I also made in PicMonkey that read “grab a stache and join the bash!”  To make a customized sign in PicMonkey you first create a collage. Add no photos, save to your desktop. It’ll be a blank white image. Then you upload the white image in the photo editor within PicMonkey.

Using the Textures function of PicMonkey, under the Paint section I found the red background. I used all different texts for the lettering and finally used one of the facial hair overlays to create the sign. You can alter the colors, sizes, etc. I printed on my computer printer, purchased a $1 frame and displayed.

Mini Cake Banner

I purchased some grey paper straws (with a coupon so only paid $3.50 for them at Michael’s) that we set out with the delicious peach punch that my sister made.

A great friend made the delicious cake and using two paper straws and leftover paper from the banner I made a mini banner for the cake. I free cut mini triangles and taped sewing thread to the back. I simply tied the string around each straw and stuck it in the cake. Our friend Cate even made mustache cookies that she stuck on the cake!

 My mom and sister also found a site that sold mustache plates and napkins that happened to be black and red. They bought those as well as a mustache banner that we hung on the food table.

The menu was delicious and included: pulled pork, shredded buffalo chicken, shredded beef and onions, potato, pasta and green salads, baked beans, antipasto, homemade mac and cheese, stuffed jalapeño peppers and more.

For dessert we had the delicious cake, chocolate covered strawberries and cocoa covered almonds. We had plenty to drink, lots of laughs, lawn games and an overall great time!

the BIG 3-0!

Today marks Al’s big 3-0! We celebrated in Boston this weekend with a mustache themed surprise party and he sure was shocked!

A few weeks ago when we confirmed that we’d be heading to Boston this weekend (I was in town for work, Al tagged along) I worked quickly to organize, invite and make this happen.

With the huge help of my sister, brother-in-law and parents we were able to make this happen. We had a blast, Al had NO clue (I guess we’re all good liars!) and his brothers even flew in for it from Wisconsin and Nashville.

It was so fun to have all of our family and friends together to celebrate this fella and the turn of a decade for him.

Alton – cheers to 30! I love you to the moon and back and can’t wait to see what your thirties have in store for you. You are my most favorite person in the world and I hope your 30^th was all you hoped for and more! xxoo

This week I’ll share details on the mustache themed party and the few fun things I made for it!

another birthday?!

Are these years going fast or what? Celebrating another year today and couldn’t be happier about it. This past year was an unbelievable whirlwind between weddings, travel, job changes, moving clear across country, more weddings and more travel. It has been a fantastic year filled with adventure, new beginnings, excitement and love.

I’ve learned a lot about myself in the past year (don’t they say that starts to happen as you near thirty 29?). I’ve had the time of my life with my best friend in this new city. We’ve learned more about each other, grown together and built this life we’re currently loving on. I’m ready to make 28 just as amazing. This life we’re lucky to live is too short not to make it awesome!

i cross my heart and promise to

It’s amazing where the time has taken us. It’s wild to look back and see that it’s been four years since we said ‘I Do’!  I love that handsome groom more with each passing day. He’s the smile on my face and the sound in my laughter. Cheers to so many more fun, adventurous, crazy years Alton!

Keeping it real this year. What could we possibly be trying to communicate in this photo? I just died laughing at it.

a belated birthday wish

Last weekend while we were celebrating my sister getting married this guy rounded the corner into the last year of his twenties:

It was quite a whirlwind weekend with lots to celebrate. To my dear Al: my wish for you is for this to be an amazing year of adventure, learning and fun. May your happiness shine and all your wishes come true. Happy (belated!) Birthday my love!

Now that I’ve embarrassed both my sister and my husband on the blog this week we should be back to regularly scheduled postings tomorrow!

my sister got married!

I mentioned last week how I was taking some time off to tie up loose ends with my sister for her wedding.  It’s amazing how fast it comes and goes. It was the most amazing day. We could not have asked for better weather on that beautiful first day or fall. Everything went smoothly, there were no fire drills and we all had the greatest time.

I wanted to share some photos. The professional ones won’t be in for a while but when they are I’ll most definitely share. These are a few from the rehearsal and the morning of the wedding. Enjoy!

Best man and maid of honor. Practicing our game faces?

Father of the Bride holding the train of her dress while she pins his flower on!

Mimi and finally the groom makes an appearance in these photos!

Mother of the Bride with both daughters!

It was a fantastic day and the bride and groom are now fully enjoying honeymooning in the sunshine!

P.S. Big thanks to my Aunt Kathy, I totally stole some of her photos for this post 😉

a few updates and EO’s 3rd blogiversary!

Wedding Extravaganza has started for us! Five weddings in six weeks are on the agenda. We are eating our Wheaties, that’s for sure. We’re just coming off of an amazing weekend in Myrtle Beach where two friends from college got married. It was such a blast and so great to catch up and see everyone. We ate way too many crab legs, drank way too many beers, probably got too much sun but had the most laughs and the best time.

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Last week we moved into my sister’s house and are enjoying our new roommates. We had to be out of our apartment by the end of the month. They felt bad that we were homeless so they took us in. It’s hilarious. Next week, I’ll show you how we’ve managed to work with the space and maximize organization in the room we are staying in.

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It’s my Blogiversary! I can’t believe it, but I’ve been blogging here at Everyday Originals for three years. I’ve never been sure of the exact start date, and I can’t look back in the archives because I had to move my blog host four months after starting so everything shows December. I know it was somewhere around the last week of August/first week of September though. For three years I’ve been making things up as I go and writing about it!

To celebrate the Blogiversary, over the next week, I’m going to head back into the archives and share some of my favorite projects/posts to date. Hopefully you’ll enjoy them and see that the blog has a lot of beef and has come quite a long way in three years!

Whats new and good with you guys? Anything fun to wrap up the summer? Is it seriously already September?!?!

august pinterest project: bachelorette party survival kit

Last weekend was my sisters bachelorette party and it was a great time! There were 10 girls total and I wanted to make some sort of cute kit with a few essential things. I searched around on Pinterest and found a few different ideas and then added my own touches.

I was planning to bring these plastic wine glasses so I thought I’d make the little kits in the wine glasses. I gathered my supplies and put them together.

After I fit everything in the glass I placed a clear bag over them and tied a bow at the bottom.

The water bottles didn’t fit in the glass so I just set it on the side when I displayed them. This was the setup in the hotel we put together. The empty baskets were for chips and salsa.

I also included a sign to include what each item in the kit was for.

They turned out really cute and were fun to have to kick off the weekend right. We had a great time, traveled by limo and spent a night at the casino. I ended up winning a nice chunk of change… not bad for my first time at blackjack!

a year later: reflection, recovery and good health

In July 2011 I packed my bags and moved into a hotel room for 4 or 5 days. My role was babysitter for two of my most favorite little boys. I have a feeling most of you have heard of them… Finley and Calvin!

There were a lot of us checked into the hotel that week. Finley and Calvin’s Dad was about to donate a portion of his liver. This wasn’t an anonymous donor-recipient situation though. The recipient was one of their closest friends, and he needed a liver transplant now.

The Lahey Clinic, where their operations took place, went ahead and filmed a short video chronicling their journey over this past year. I encourage you to watch it, it’s fabulous. You can view it by clicking here.

I find myself sharing Carl and Spencer’s journey with complete strangers to them, but people close to me quite often. What an amazing and fascinating story. The courage, perseverance, faith, commitment, dedication, love and friendship is something out of this world. And not just for them. For their families, parents, siblings, children and their wives. Their wives! I couldn’t imagine the role of holding it together, being the rock, being the care giver and so on. But one thing is for sure, though I’m sure incredibly challenging at times, Bridget and Lisa are two of the strongest people I know.

To this day I look back on that birthday and think how I wouldn’t have wanted to spend it any other way. It was an honor that they chose me to be the one to watch over their boys, protect them, field questions and tears from a 3-year-old, keep them busy and little minds off of the topic of “when will I see Daddy?” But most of all to experience this amazing event in their lives. To see the definition of “friends that are family” played out in real life.

I remember the Sunday when we brought the boys back home to get them settled in. Soon after I left the house and started to walk towards where Al was picking me up. In that moment I remember my eyes filling with tears as I started to really think about what had just occurred over these past few days. And I was absolutely speechless.

It’s been amazing to see the progress that both Spencer and Carl have made over this past year. In many ways, hard to believe that an entire year has passed. Such a gift that their families are to each other, now and forever!

a broken computer, a birthday, and an amazing story

Well. Hello, 9 days later. My computer had a minor meltdown and Apple had to hold it to get it fixed up. Back up and running now! We’ve been quite busy this summer with weekends booked up back to back to back to back basically for 4 months. So I’m playing a little bit of catch up now.

Last week I turned 27. No clue when that happened, last time I checked I was like 19. I was totally spoiled with fun gifts including a Kindle, Breville Kettle, cute camera strap for my DSLR, gift cards, a new wallet and more.

I’m excited for this next year, life is good and it’s going to be a great one. If you recall I posted this post last year on my birthday in 2011. At the end of the post I talk about when the time is right I’ll share where I had been the weekend of my birthday.

We’ll, I’m so excited to share this remarkable story with you all. I ended the post from last year with this: “It’s an amazing story of courage, commitment, dedication and love. But most of all, of friendship. And that when a friend needs you, you’re there for them, without thinking twice, without thinking of yourself, without hesitation.”

Stay tuned, I have another post in the works to share today!